Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

Baby Bust Continues: U.S. Births Fall Again With Another Drop Anticipated After COVID

The CDC found the number of births fell about 1% from 2018, to about 3.7 million. Birth rates continued to fall for teen moms and for women in their 20s while some women are just waiting until they're older. Public health news is on mental health, resuming exercise after COVID, treatment delays for cancer patients, feeling like outcasts, elderly deaths while on ventilators, training canines to detect infections, careful cleaning of surfaces, challenges when caring for dementia patients, pregnancy, new hotel perks, and on testing ultraviolet light as a cleaning agent, as well.

The Associated Press:
US Births Fall, And Virus Could Drive Them Down More
U.S. births continued to fall last year, leading to the fewest number of newborns in 35 years. The decline is the latest sign of a prolonged national “baby bust” that’s been going on for more than a decade. And some experts believe the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the economy will suppress the numbers further. (Stobbe, 5/20)

The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Birthrates Fall To Record Low
“There are a lot of people out there who would like to have two children, a larger family, and there’s something going on out there that makes people feel like they can’t do that,” said Melanie Brasher, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Rhode Island, who studies fertility. Birthrates fell or held steady for women of all ages except those in their early 40s. Teenagers saw the sharpest drop, with a 5% decline in their birthrate. Since peaking in 1991, the teen birthrate has fallen 73%. (Adamy, 5/20)

Bloomberg:
Employers Scramble To Address Mental Health Epidemic
As the global death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic climbs, employers are scrambling to address the explosive rates of anxiety, depression, substance abuse, and potential suicides that have emerged along with it. Like the virus itself, this secondary epidemic is expected to affect far more people than the existing health care system can address, leaving employers to pick up the slack. (Cohen, 5/19)

The New York Times:
Returning To Exercise After Recovery From Coronavirus
Is it OK to resume athletic training, even if you have gotten through a bout of Covid-19 or tested positive for coronavirus or suspect you might have been infected? Two new expert-consensus statements from pulmonologists and cardiologists, published separately in The Lancet and JAMA Cardiology, urge caution. The new statements point out that the always-thorny issue of when injured or ill athletes can return to training is further complicated now, since the novel coronavirus is novel and much about its short- and long-term effects on the body remain unknown. (Reynolds, 5/20)

WBUR:
For Cancer Patients, Anguish Grows Over Deferred Surgery As Risk Rises
COVID-19 has taken the medical focus away from many other serious diseases, including cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, more than a quarter of patients with active cancer are reporting delays in treatment. Also, cancer screenings are down, meaning many conditions will worsen while the health system diverts to fight the virus. At the same time, the pandemic is creating bottlenecks in care. (Noguchi, 5/19)

The New York Times:
They Beat The Virus. Now They Feel Like Outcasts.
On the day Elizabeth Martucci and her 11-year-old son were deemed to have recovered from the coronavirus, they emerged from their home on the Jersey Shore with some sidewalk chalk to sketch a message in the driveway. “We are Covid survivors,” they wrote.“I thought I’m going to tell everybody, ‘I had this, and I’m OK,’ just to show people it’s not a death sentence,” Ms. Martucci said. She also bought T-shirts that said “Covid Survivor,” anticipating that some of the neighbors on her cul-de-sac in Cape May Court House might have some lingering discomfort. (Nir, 5/20)

The Washington Post:
Elderly Covid-19 Patients On Ventilators Usually Do Not Survive, New York Hospitals Report
Most elderly covid-19 patients put on ventilators at two New York hospitals did not survive, according to a sweeping study published Tuesday that captured the brutal nature of this new disease and the many ways it attacks the body. The study, published in the Lancet, is broadly consistent with clinical findings from China and Europe, and confirmed that advanced age is the greatest risk factor for a severe outcome, particularly if accompanied by chronic underlying diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and obesity. (Achenbach and Cha, 5/19)

ABC News:
Could Dogs Help Detect COVID-19 In Humans?
Dogs have a remarkable sense of smell and scientists are studying whether our canine friends could help identify people infected with the novel coronavirus. Medical Detection Dogs, a British charity, has already succeeded in training dogs to detect the odor of malaria, cancer and Parkinson's disease. Now it's training dogs to spot the odor of COVID-19. (Jovanovic, 5/19)

CIDRAP:
Scientists Isolate Live COVID-19 Virus From Feces, Detect RNA On Surfaces
Chinese researchers have isolated live COVID-19 virus from the feces of patients who died from the disease, according to a report published yesterday in Emerging Infectious Diseases. In the same journal, a separate group of Chinese researchers reported detection of RNA from SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on surfaces in hotel rooms used to quarantine people suspected of having the disease. (Van Beusekom, 5/19)

WBUR:
For Dementia Patients And Caregivers, The Pandemic Brings New Challenges
Across Massachusetts, the coronavirus pandemic has separated families from their loved ones in nursing homes, and created new challenges for staff who are trying to stop the virus from spreading. Navigating this pandemic is always difficult, but it’s particularly complicated when you're caring for someone who has dementia — a reality that Helene Oppenheimer has come to realize all too well. (Wasser, 5/20)

NPR:
Hotels Adapt To Win Back Guests: No Notepads, Pens And Maybe Even Minibars
In normal times, hotels promote their star chefs or their swanky design upgrades. But priorities have changed. In the age of the coronavirus, the news from Hilton is a partnership — with Lysol. As hotel guests begin to return, the standard expectation of hygiene has been elevated to "where it's cleanliness almost with a double exclamation point after it," says Phil Cordell, Hilton's global head of brand development. (Berline, 5/20)

ABC News:
Ultraviolet Light To Zap Coronavirus On Subways, Buses
Hailing it as a tested killer of the novel coronavirus, New York City transit officials announced on Tuesday that they are launching a pilot program using ultraviolet light to disinfect its subway cars and buses. "To our knowledge, this is the first reported test of its kind, period," Patrick Foye, chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said at a news conference where the technology was demonstrated. (Hutchinson, 5/19)

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